Arrests over 'stolen' Haiti orphans
Updated on 31 January 2010
Haitian police have arrested 10 US citizens for allegedly trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-hit country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme. Inigo Gilmore reports.
The five men and five women are in custody in Port-au-Prince after being detained on Friday.
There a growing fears traffickers may be trying to exploit the chaos the 7.0 magnitude tremor on 12 January left behind, by "purchasing" or taking orphaned children.
One of the suspects, who says she is leader of an Idaho-based charity, has denied they had done anything wrong.
The group were detained at Malpasse, Haiti's main border crossing with the Dominican Republic, after police conducted a routine search of their vehicle.
Authorities say the Americans had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption of the 33 children, aged two months to 12 years.
It is also reported there are no papers showing they were made orphans by the quake.
"This is totally illegal," said Yves Cristalin, Haiti's social affairs minister. "No children can leave Haiti without proper authorisation and these people did not have that authorisation."
US authorities have yet to comment but the parents of one of the accused Americans have said the arrests are a mistake.
Mel Coulter's 23-year-old daughter Charisa is one of the group.
He told US TV network NBC: "They want to bring kids out who have no home. Who have no parents. Who have no hope, and this was an attempt to give them the hope that they've lost in Haiti."
He added: "They thought they had everything documented the way they should and their paperwork was in order and they have been trying for the last week to finalise those arrangements and have run into a number of hurdles."
Meanwhile, critically injured people are no longer being flown by the US military for treatment in America, raising fears some will die in a dispute over where to treat them and who should pay the costs.
Officials have told reporters no solution had yet been found in order to renew the US-run medical evacuations, which were halted several days ago.
